Can you legally fire a woman who has an abortion? — Business Management Daily: Free Reports on Human Resources, Employment Law, Office Management, Office Communication, Office Technology and Small Business Tax Business Management Daily

Recent case: An employee known only as Jane Doe worked as a graphic artist for a car insurance company. After six months on the job, she became pregnant and told her boss. Then she learned that the child was severely deformed and made the decision to terminate the pregnancy. She took a week off for the procedure and recovery and to bury the child.

Her employer then fired her, ostensibly for not following company vacation-leave guidelines. She sued, alleging that she was punished for having an abortion.

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals sided with her and sent her case to trial. It concluded that the PDA says employers can’t discriminate on the basis of sex, which includes “pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.” Abortion is a related medical condition, it reasoned. The case will now go to trial, and the company will have to show it fired Doe for violating a vacation policy. (Jane Doe v. C.A.R.S. Protection, No. 06-3625, 3rd Cir., 2008)

Final note: Make sure your leave policies do not discriminate on the basis of how a pregnancy ends—whether in childbirth, miscarriage or abortion. This is not an area where moral qualms should be allowed to enter. The PDA clearly covers elective abortions, too.